review: Juliet Ruin

Juliet Ruin

Old Stardust, Love, and Chaos

6 September 2019

Juliet Ruin works with a lot of the aesthetics of metalcore and seeks to give it a sense of duality between melodic/pop and harder-edged sounds of post-2010 contemporary aggro metal. An indispensable approach for them is to make the songs catchy and very friendly to the listener, like radio rock, and then bring in the yelling-shouting vocals and heavier sounds to contrast with the poppy singing. The band is a good example of how younger generations have been finding their own ways of transforming hardcore, metalcore, melodic death metal and pop music. They even add some rapping/talking parts on the song “FTW,” even though they don’t seem exactly committed to the hip hop element; perhaps they are too afraid of being criticized for doing too much or for bringing a bit of a hip hop flavor to the music.

The screaming/yelling sounds pretty good for what it is, it’s serviceable, but it’s the singing that stands out more. It’s soft singing that wouldn’t be out of place in a pop song. The singing at times seems underdeveloped or timid, but this is early in the career of the band; it’s bound to improve on future recordings. The music is part mosh, part happy, as you would expect. Unfortunately, they are limiting themselves by cursing in the songs in what seems to be an attempt to sound tough, but this just means less people are potential customers. It may seem cool or very metal, but the result will be that less people will choose to listen to ear-friendly music if it has a bunch of cursing.

Overall, this is the work of a young band working their influences into something that they can call their own sound. It’s a more contemporary interpretation of metalcore and pop music. It’s music with a pretty big potential for commercial appeal (both the music and the image), especially for adolescents and the younger generations getting into heavy rock. facebook.com/julietruinband/

review: Child Bite/Ringworm

Child Bite/Ringworm

Split Hits the Fans V

Failure Records and Tapes

September 6, 2019

1.Child Bite - The Fool

2.Child Bite - The Creeper

3.Child Bite - The Masochist

4.Ringworm - I Hide In You

5.Ringworm - I'm Not Right

Child Bite and Ringworm have tied the knot for a split release. Oh, well, there goes the neighborhood! Just when things were starting to look nice in the neighborhood and the bad neighbors finally moved out, here come the punks. This is why we can’t have nice things around here, ya see! I have been driving around in my grandma’s AC-less minivan with the windows down because this stupid summer heat just won’t go away, but these punks have been making the heat more tolerable. When I listen to Child Bite and Ringworm in the minivan, my neighbors listen to Child Bite and Ringworm.

The Detroit rock city hardcore thumpers Child Bite do three quick songs about the importance of putting your dishes in the dishwasher directly after you eat so that your dad won’t be mad. The kitchen sink is not the dishwasher, ya know. Actually, they could be talking about good manners, but they probably are not because there’s far more important topics, like horror movies. The songs are hardcore in, hardcore out, and done. You get some groovy, sweaty punk tunes that don’t last longer than two minutes each, and in the process the band manages to be highly inappropriate and too obscene for anyone else besides that shady dude that you see every Saturday night at the bar always wearing his Dead Kennedys and old C.O.C. patches like a badge of honor.

The other side of this coin is the Buckeye State dirt-dwelling punks Ringworm. They turn in two songs that do not go beyond two minutes each. Ringworm is completely different from Child Bite. While Child Bite has yelling vocals, Ringworm has screaming vocals. Child Bite is obscene, Ringworm is obnoxious. Child Bite is a bunch of angry Michigan dudes, Ringworm is a collection of furious bad hombres from Ohio. See the difference there? It’s like the difference between the men without hats and the men at work.

Anyway, Child Bite and Ringworm had both promised to take some anger management classes, but it looks like they lied. Again. Nothing has changed. Please get them some help at 1-800-IRATE-2-MUCH or get them some anger management classes by calling eight six seven five three oh nine. failurerecords.bandcamp.com

review: Everfrost

Everfrost

Winterider

Rockshots Records

6 August 2019

The central person behind Everfrost is Benjamin Connelly, who began the idea years ago with the Snowkid solo project. According to Metal Archives, there was a Snowkid 2013 album, but it’s not clear where people can hear that music. Then in 2015 there was Everfrost’s debut with Benjamin still pretty much doing everything, it seems. Now in 2019 Benjamin has found his troops to join him in this crusade to bring joy to Finland and the world. At this point the band has its sights set on big, huge melodies and gigantic pop metal songs that will help Finland dance its way out of the upcoming winter.

Probably the most necessary question for the potential listener goes something like this: Are you supportive of pop metal that is drenched, positively soaked in happy keyboards? If the answer is “yes,” then proceed without caution and enjoy yourself. If the answer is “maybe,” then this album could convince you, assuming you want to find out just where does this music leads, and it’s probably not the mosh pit but the dance club.

The Finnish band has a wicked sense of humor. When listening to the album we did not even notice a song called “Die Young.” It sounded like another pop metal tune on the album. It turns out that it is a cover of an artist named Keesha. We had to look up the original. It turns out that the Keesha has one of the most annoying voices that you will hear. Simply irritating. The new pop metal version is like the original, but with guitar, as expected, but the singing is not as annoying as the original. Speaking of irritating things, the singing on this album should be acceptable to the happy pop metal fan. The voice might be a bit nasal, we’re not sure, but it’s pretty good and it’s serviceable and fits the music rather well. It will be interesting to see if the singer decides to take some singing lessons to improve.

The songs are also pretty good and there are no big complaints if you like pop/dance metal. The only song that seems way off is “Above the Treeline” because in the middle the song begins to feel like a broken record; it stops and comes back to the previoius exact point, as if it cannot go forward, but apparently this is what the band wanted. We have checked out our version many times to see if there is something wrong, but the song’s time does go forward and does end as if everything’s ok, even though the music sounds damaged like a broken record. Weird. Maybe Finnish people think it is hilarious to make songs that sound like broken records?! Fans of happy keyboards dance pop metal, say hello to your new heroes. facebook.com/everfrostfinland

review: Vokonis

Vokonis

Grasping Time

The Sign Records

6 September 2019

These hippies draw from that good time basket of psychedelic and stoner rock, from the spirit of 1970s heavy rock, and the contemporary conglomeration of stoner, doom and sludge, and out of all those intertwining threads they knit their own fabric of heaviness. The band goes beyond doing repetitive, simplistic riffs for the sake of heaviness. The riffs are there but they are secondary to the melodies. The guitar is big on the slow melodies. What are they doing with the melodies? Perhaps they love the slow melodies of Pink Floyd or maybe the guitar player is a big fanatic of the blues. It could be from psychedelic rock; or all of the above. Regardless, these bluesy hooks and melodies is one of the key components in the music.

There is a melodic singing voice that shows up in certain places. That’s the best part out of the vocal styles on display. The singing comes across as melodic and pleasant; it’s not high, nor oversung nor forced/strained. A good example of this style of singing is the first part of the second song. The other side is the main doom vocals, which sound like a dude kind of yelling-singing, kind of hollering-singing; sounds like a self-taught person making do with what they have. The first song is a good illustration of this style of vocals. The singing is much, much more attractive than the hollering-punk-shouting if the listener is looking for some singing. As for the hollering vocals, it has worked for stoner and doom for decades, so that’s that.

As long as the customer is not demanding outstanding singing from a doom product, then this album should be of interest. Doom fans always on the hunt for new products now have a new Vokonis work for consumption. vokonis.bandcamp.com/album/grasping-time

review: Casket Robbery

Casket Robbery

The Ascension (expanded edition)

6 September 2019

Today is Wednesday, September 4th, 2019, and tomorrow is a national holiday in Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers begin their 2019-2020 season against the hated Chicago Bears, a team that is the personification of grandiose infinite evil to every fan of the Green Packers and every Wisconsinite. The game has not begun yet as of this writing, but we are 100% confident that the Packers will win the game by a score of 157 to -21. Everyone in the great state of Wisconsin knows that the last few years have been very difficult. The Packers have not been doing well, and only two things have been keeping people’s spirits afloat: the abundance of cheese and Casket Robbery. Cheese is perfect, and so is Casket Robbery. Coach Vince Lombardi (RIP) would, if he could, blast this death metal on the loudspeakers right before every game so that the Packers feel a rush of excitement going into the action.

Those new to the band will notice that the death metal band is efficient and gets to the point quickly with upfront death metal. The Wisconsin band is not melodic death metal at all. They don’t do the growl/sing thing, the metalcore breakdowns, nor the sugary melodies, but that does not mean that they are a chug-chug growl-growl band only. They have a few hooks here and there, and they have some background horror-type sounds in some places to liven the proceedings while you mosh your way into the emergency room in Oshkosh or Oconomowoc or in Siberia.

This EP is not enough to change the world, but that’s not a crime; not even the great quarterback Aaron Rodgers has stopped the wars and world hunger around the globe. If Mr. Rodgers cannot do it, then you probably cannot, either. Nevertheless, this is enough to start a mosh pit right there where you are right now riding in that taxi on your way downtown to catch up with your old friends at the local bar to watch Casket Robbery at a show this September when they go on tour: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota and Wisconsin are on the list. Go, Casket Robbery, go! Death metal is on the way to you, Toledo, Ohio. casketrobbery.bandcamp.com

review: Surface of the Sun

Surface of the Sun

Panacea

6 September 2019

Surface of the Sun is a project that is apparently all played by one person, but with the exception of the hired musician handling the drumming. The recording is only four songs, which is not a lot for people to judge. The recording lasts about 25 minutes. The music is melodic progressive with singing. Overall, the music falls in the category of midtempo and groovy prog, and the songs stay at a comfortable head bobbing pace. It’s easy-listening prog, without extreme traits (no growling, no screaming, no blasting nor fast drumming). Fans of the heavier side of prog might not like the lightness nor the accessibility of this recording, but fans of the melodic side might enjoy the emphasis on grooves. The bass guitar is very audible and the guitar is not a predominant presence at all. It’s a roomy type of prog. The main thing about the music is the grooving aspects of it, and the slightly spacey/trippy feel in the background of the songs. The prog elements have more to do with groovy songs, and not necessarily complexity in the music. In this project the use of background sounds/samples/instrumentation is important for creating that second layer of the music.

The singing is the one major sticking point. The vocals are meant to be in the style of melodic singing characterized by the feel of a somewhat tortured-soul expression. It is soft singing that seeks to evoke vulnerability. At times it seems like the singing is borderline crying. This type of singing perhaps is more common in alternative rock than metal music, but there are successful bands with this type of singing, especially in the field of traditional/melodic progressive rock and metal. Ultimately, the listener decides whether this singing is friendly to the ear or not, or whether it is just too irritating to bear. facebook.com/surfaceofthesun/

review: Hope Drone

Hope Drone

Void Lustre

Moment of Collapse/Sludgelord Records

30 August 2019

Hope Drone has put together a well-paced album that does not overwhelm as much as it would if the music were not arranged as it is. In other words, this album would be boring, difficult, pretentious and/or disjointed if the band did not sequence it as they did. Now, just to clarify, this album is pretentious and difficult, but oh boy it could be worse, way, way worse for the audience. It is five songs in 64 minutes of extreme metal with lots of blasting parts and plenty of dissonance, and also slow segments. This is what they did right. They seem to have asked themselves: (1) Are we trying to confuse the listener as much as possible in order to prove that we are talented and intelligent? Or, (2) Are we trying to make songs that are challenging but still interesting to the listener?

They chose option number two. The album requires an extreme amount of patience. Essentially, the band decided to give the listener the impression that the music is mostly blasting extreme metal, by often beginning the songs with blasting and intensity, and keeping it up for long periods of time, but once the songs really get going you are going to find out that there are other things going on.

From the first album in 2015 they established that they are a “post-metal” band; therefore, with the first song they basically were under the obligation to show that they still got it, and have not turned into something else. The first song is more than 13 minutes and it begins in a most yoga metal way possible: one lonely guitar string is slowly plucked and eventually a lonely drum begins softly to fade in from a distance. It’s not until three minutes later that it feels like multiple strings are strummed, but things actually get slower just when you thought it might pick up, but then the slow, desperate growling enters and this all sounds like slow doom extreme metal. At about six minutes a slow and lonely melody enters the space and takes over. Awesome. Now, right around the 7:30 mark the band is signaling blasting extreme metal, and eight minutes in, the blasting is going on until about 9:30 when it backs off a bit, but the extreme metal is still ruling the space, and will do it until the end.

The second song begins exactly like the first one ended: blasting extreme metal, mostly closer to black metal than any other genre. This second song is headbanging metal pretty much the whole way. Then the third songs hits and it is blasting extreme metal again, but it doesn’t stay that way. Things will slow down, get melancholic, get doomy, get spacey, fast and frenetic, and everything in between. However, the reason it does work is how it is all sequenced; the band is always careful to remind the listener that this is a heavy metal band that rocks. Maybe they don’t blast all the time, maybe they are not the most brutal band, but this album is very much extreme metal, despite the fact that this album is supposedly post-rock and post-metal, as if to suggest that it is really not metal music. What is not up for debate for anyone that does bother to hear this entire album is that there is has an abundance of fast, and blasting extreme metal, and to state otherwise is simply not factually accurate.

Is the album difficult? Yes. If it weren’t, this review would have been ready weeks ago. Is the album too long? Way too long! But wait a minute now, what if the band in question is not going to make another album in half a decade or so? Is it still too long? Ah, well, then story changes. If you like the album, but you’re not going to get another one in a long time, then the listener might end up feeling completely different about this hour of music. Hope Drone sends you greetings from the year 2025, when the third album will be ready.

hopedrone.bandcamp.com

Burn Through Life/NevermindThe Damage/Themyscira: Sept. 6 in Arlington, WA

This show is coming up on Friday.

Friends/Bands,

What further information do you have about it? Do you have links to hear the recordings by these bands? Do these bands have bios for people to know more about them?

SEP 6 Burn Through Life/NevermindThe Damage/Themyscira

Friday at 8:30 PM

Mirkwood Public House

117 E Division St, Arlington, Washington 98223

facebook.com/events/326088884984063/

review: Lamassu

Lamassu

Into the Empty

2 September 2019

Lamassu is a doom band from Australia. The music is traditional doom: heavy, simple riffs of the late 1960s/early 1970s hard-blues rock and psychedelic rock played in a contemporary style. The style is considerably catchy and should be friendly to American fans who like the hard/classic rock on the radio in this country. The riffs are accessible, and the guitar seems like it is just one guitar laying down the slabs of riffs, even though they have two guitarists. In some segments, there is a second guitar laying down some hooks on top of the rhythm, but these musicians are careful to keep the songs relatively simple. The songs are kept accessible and one listen will pretty much give a solid idea of how it is. The sound quality is pretty good, considering that this is an independent recording.

Fans of this type big-riff heaviness rock already know that these types of bands have bad vocals, but the fans love it, anyway. The fans usually find ways to get around, tolerate or even enjoy the farm animal noises, the big-belly constipation-style hollering, the angry-person yelling, the bear-and-hound growling barking and the drug-addict screaming and all those neat things that singing-disabled people do to endear themselves to the cult of psychedelic/stoner/doom/sludge rock. Lamassu will surprise some fans because the Australians have a vocalist that sings for real. The tone of the voice stays in an upper range as the normal singing voice for the verses and then it goes higher for the choruses or certain segments/moments or words. Fans of doom heaviness will like the music, and many more other rock fans will go for the singing.

The lyrics seem alright, from what we can tell without having the lyrics available, although the lyrics or song titles could be better. Song titles like “Chokehold Companion,” “Killing Someone,” and “I Die” seem not the smarter choice. “Killing Someone”? Not the best title, but the title “Under the Watch of a Crow” is much, much better and leaves more to the imagination.

Frankly, for American rock audiences, compared to the radio rock of the airwaves in the USA—Creed, Disturbed, Ozzy, Priest, Sabbath, Alice in Chains, Metallica, Soundgarden, Megadeth and that type of heaviness—this Australian band is not so different from that hard/classic rock. It’s in the same range of heaviness. The fact that they have good singing should only make the band more appealing to wider audiences. If there’s anything as a sticking point, it won’t be the singing. Having said, the band could stand to work on making the songs more melodic, catchier and just generally more direct, and less meandering. Sometimes the space/desert/alternative rock vibes take the songs a bit too off course, and make them a bit too long, and the rocking gets forgotten a bit too often.

lamassuband.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-empty

facebook.com/LamassuBand/

September concerts in Arlington and Bellingham, Washington State

Bands, fans and other friends in the region north of Seattle: Everett-Bellingham,

These are some shows that are scheduled for September in your area. Is this information correct? Please give the correct information if you see errors here (as there probably are) so that people have the most updated information. Please feel free to add information about these or other shows in September. Thank you!!

September 6 Burn Through Life, Nevermind the Damage, Themyscira at The Mirkwood Public House, Arlington, WA

September 14 Blood and Thunder, The Devils of Loudun, Orator, Forever Convicted at The Mirkwood Public House, Arlington, WA

September 14 Overwrought, Kihalás, Done to Death at The Shakedown, Bellingham, WA

September 27 Gallows Hymn, Kerr Ring at The Mirkwood Public House, Arlington, WA

review: Illusions of Grandeur

Illusions of Grandeur

The Songs of the Siren

Pavement Entertainment

30 August 2019

Ladies and gentlemen! And children of all ages!

Welcome to the opera house of heavy metal!

Tonight we have the pleasure of bringing to the stage the performance of Illusions of Grandeur. On this night Illusions of Grandeur will do a presentation for you that will impress and entertain you. They will take you to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Trust and betrayal, love and disenchantment, frustration and redemption, and all the human emotions will be experienced on this night.

Now, friends, the musicianship is perfectionist, ha! This music is filled with drama and expressed in the form of loud heavy metal, ah, yes, and your heart will live the drama of Illusions of Grandeur and your ears will remind you tomorrow morning of the volume of this theatre. They have many tales to tell you, and we can’t wait for you to hear how this drama will unfold in your imagination as you give meaning to what you see with your inner eye and what you hear with your ears.

The singing is prototypical heavy metal with lots of high notes and ear-piercing screams. It’s not going to be mellow and smooth but rather intense and exciting. The wallpaper might start to peel off tonight, friends, ha! The voice sings to tell you the stories that will guide you through the drama of theatrical progressive heavy metal.

Well, now that you know who tonight’s performers are, you may have some trepidation. Friends, do not panic! Do not worry! These musicians know what they are doing and they will make sure to easy your troubled mind. You will experience joy, fury, sadness, and all the emotions that a human being could ever hope for, but enjoy this wonderful ride into progressive dramatic music and everything that it will reveal to you tonight. Ready or not, aha ha ha, you are going to remember this ride!

Well, let’s begin! facebook.com/IllusionsOG/

review: Ice Vinland

Ice Vinland

Asgard Steel

Pure Steel Records

30th August 2019

The tribe of Ice Vinland has experienced some serious scourges in their midst and they have almost been wiped out quite a few times, but they always find a way to rebuild their ship and reload with supplies of meat, beer, and lots of cheese for the journeys ahead. Ice Vinland first sailed out in an excursion in 1998, but it wasn’t until 2007 when they sailed again. Then trouble struck once more. Their ship sank and some tribesmen were lost at sea. This is their third excursion. This new excursion is from 2018 but this narration tells the tale as told in 2019 by the merchants of Pure Steel Records based on the mainland of Germania, north of the imperial city of Rome.

This third saga lasts 56 minutes and it contains nine stories of how the heathen gods have brought misery to their lives and how these Vikings continue to feast on meat and massive quantities of cheese to survive in the hostile world of the Canadian frozen tundra where the three pagan demigods Justin Bieber, Drake and Shawn Mendes rule the land’s airwaves with an iron hand of success, wealth and fame of epic proportions.

No matter. The ships of Ice Vinland “beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” as the tale goes. These Vikings are addicted to songs that sound victorious, and make other barbarian heathens happy with the merriment that comes from thinking about the big, wild and totally tubular adventures of the ancient dudes.

If these Canadian modern-day pirates of the music scene lived in the Old Continent they would have amassed gold and glory by the buckets. Bucket, bucket. The men on board would be recompensed handsomely because the board man gets paid. Unfortunately for history, posterity and the universe, they sail the seas of lands far away and they need much bigger ships to conquer Europe, but they are not discouraged, only emboldened to continue their quest to bring the Viking power metal to all the generations of Canadians that will be born now, in the future or in the past in the infinite history of the land of ice and snow.

Finally, cranky-pants anti-power metal naysayers must not enter this ship. You enter, you walk the plank. Anti-power metal cynics who reject the power of the power chord, the glory of glorious metal and the true of trueness of heavy metal traditions, with bear skins, swords, furry hats and boots, and the mighty cheese, they dare not raise their flags near this vessel. All fun-loving power metal fanatics who possess at least one eye patch or pirate hat are welcome into this ship. Ahoy, matey Viking pirates of metal, ahoy! Greetings to all, and may the metal force be with you on your journey through the oceans of cheese with Ice Vinland.

puresteel-shop.com/ICE-VINLAND-Asgard-Steel

puresteel-records.com/bands/view/57/Ice_Vinland

review: Warcrab

Warcrab

Damned in Endless Night

Transcending Obscurity Records

30 August 2019

Warcrab is a nifty kind of proposition for sludge zealots. The Brits are slow because it’s slow doom sludge and all, but they spice up their music, perhaps due to their own weariness of the monotonous direction of contemporary extreme doom and sludge. If that is not how they feel, then it’s pure coincidence that in 2019 they return with their third album, with an abundance of surprises and fun additions to the heaviness. The most likely explanation is that they do want to keep things fresh and interesting for themselves, and maybe for the longtime fans of the genre.

Signaling their difference right from the kickoff, they begin with a big slab of melody as the introduction to the album. It’s very melodic in a sad way, and it’s also a fun little puzzle trying to figure out what influences you can detect. We think we know which ones they are, and you will find some others, too. Nevertheless, just in case there are any questions, concerns or doubts, yes, this album has a boatful of crawling, sprawling heaviness. No worries there. The sludge is remains.

On the other hand, they have several items to consider as selling points for their particular brand of their doom sludge product. First, the band features three guitarists, which is definitely something a bit different, given that lots of drone/doom/sludge is just one guitar, and sometimes there is not even a guitar, just bass and drums. While it is true that it is not super clear in the songs that you can hear a ton of guitar layers, there is always a sense that there are plural guitars working to create the rhythms and the melodies. Bands with the three guitarists are always kind of disappointing, whether it is Iron Maiden or Warcrab, because they are not able to break through and make the three guitars audible consistently throughout the songs (bands with two drummers are also disappointing because they don’t have the imagination to use the drummers differently and harmoniously in the songs, and instead we usually get two drummers playing the exact same thing; so boring). However, Warcrab does show melodies working on top of the rhythms, that’s a very positive trait for them. It’s way better than the usual doom gloom monotonous heaviness.

Another positive characteristic is their use of variety in the tempos. While they may be violating some doom rules by picking up the tempos in their songs, the rule breaking sure makes things more interesting for listeners. Sometimes the death metal vibes come through and it’s awesome to hear them shake things up that way.

Some other things to know are: the vocals are in the style of black metal or sludge, depending how you want to see it. It’s not really a low growl, but a painful, slow screech scream. Also, the band seems to get a kick out of throwing little cues for people to figure out. There are a few places where the band seems to do small tributes to their favorite bands; sometimes it is subtle, sometimes it is very clear. Fun stuff. Overall, the album shows a strong effort to do sludge that offers something a bit more varied that people are used to hearing.

warcrabuk.bandcamp.com

review: The Holeum

The Holeum

Sublime Emptiness

August 23rd, 2019

Lifeforce Records

Unless the listener is a huge post-rock/post-metal fanatic, this album will be a contrast from the usual power-chord music. There are moments in which the music sounds familiar, like in overall heaviness of the guitar at some points. However, a large portion of it seems made not to rev up the listener, but rather to make the listener think. What does this band want the listener to think about? Nothingness, emptiness, look at your shoes and stare into the space, the meaning of life, the stars in the sky, the Earth in space, philosophy, and things like that. The Holeum asks not, “Are you ready to rock, Cleveland?!” The Holeum is more like, “Are you ready to think about how black holes supposedly have such gravitational acceleration to deform space-time and not allow even light to escape it, Cleveland?!”

The Holeum is a band from Spain, and this is the follow-up to 2016's debut. You can tell that at least some of the members do like metal in a serious way; that comes across in the music. However, you will not find the usual tropes: violence, murder, assault, “cool” alcoholics, rock stars, devil worshipping, zombies, braggadocio, politics, the environment, the metal lifestyle, relationships, war, partying, and all those things.

The Holeum is a band of adults that seek to make heavy music and want to make it beautiful, and a little bit bizarre, too, but not too much. The album artwork is not anything of the usual topics. Their lyrics are meant to be philosophical. They come don’t across as bragging, posing, brutal and stuff, although the lyrics might seem pretentious. Thus, it’s pretension in a different form by band seeking other ways to do lyrics and image, but they don’t come across as self-important or trying to be cool, either, like some post-metal bands try to do by seeming more profound than other humans by acting like, “I am so much better than you, human, because I, in my so profound being, feel more feelings than you feel, metal fan.”

If you have not given post-metal bands a chance before, or if you want to hear a band that is trying to do metal music in a different way, then this band could be interesting. Maybe the fact that they are not a bunch of twenty-year-olds worried about their public persona or maybe because they (or at least some of them) are in their forties, more or less, the music comes off as less ego-centric, less look-at-me and it’s simply heavy music, from doom sources, and adding the more atmospheric or thoughtful aspects of post-rock/metal.

The music has the heaviness of doom, but they keep it controlled and they are not trying to be heavy for its own sake. They like to keep things heavy but mellow, if that makes sense. They have some sections with space jazz saxophone. They have lots of chill but unmelodic guitar, perfect for shoe gazing or passing out during an afternoon nap on the bus or at the beach or at the neighbor’s barbecue by the pool on a Saturday evening. It’s not “Scream for me, Long Beach!”; it’s more like, “Chill out for me, Long Beach!” is the rallying cry of the post-metal band The Holeum. Sleep well, Cleveland. Sleep well, Alicante. Good night, Spain. Good night, red ballon. Good night, pair of socks. Good night, two kittens. Good night, moon.

theholeum.bandcamp.com

review: Imperial Cult

Imperial Cult

Spasm of Light

August 23nd, 2019

Sentient Ruin Laboratories

Imperial Cult alleges that they recorded this 34-minute single-track album in one take. It is fast black metal for pretty much the whole time, with a noticeable moment of quiet of a few minutes starting at the 17-minute mark, and another slow segment at the end, in the last few minutes. Anyway, here’s the thing, Skip. Just press play and listen to hypnosis-inducing fast black metal. The music just goes round and round in circles, and the vocals are far-off desperate screams spiraling. The genre’s fanatics, those that seek it out because they cannot get enough of it, are going to have to look into this recording or miss out on hearing a single-track hypnotic black metal monolith that can be captivating when you are ready for the music to play on, on and on, and let it go where it may.

As for the lyrics and ideology, this review has no information. The vocals are distant screams, but the topic is unknown to this review. The project is supposedly based in Holland, but this review is unable to tell you the politics, if any, of the project. The official information says, "The three members involved in the project are key figures in the Dutch extreme/experimental underground, and are active in bands like Turia, Nusquama, Cryptae, Lubbert Das, Horrid Apparition, Dead Neanderthals, Solar Temple, Heavy Natural, Iskandr, Celestial Bodies, and DungeönHammer as well as tied in with the label Haeresis Noviomagi." On the other hand, a cursory glance through Metal Archives reveals who the members of this project are and it’s not difficult to find pictures of them, either.

This review does not pretend to give a correct definition of hypnosis, but simply works with the popular idea of repetition and suggestion to induce a state similar to sleep or an altered state in general. Imperial Cult is like that. Very repetitive on purpose in order to create a state of relaxation by comforting the mind of the listener, if the listener is willing to allow the music to take that direction. Are they playing the same exact notes for 34 minutes? Of course not, but it is not attempting to be progressive, either. Repetition is key here for the purposes of achieving the effect of fast music that seems to stand still in trance, once the ears lock in on the circular patterns at work.

This album is for those devoted black metal fans that like to go beyond the black metal of the "major" metal record companies.

sentientruin.com/releases/imperial-cult-spasm-of-light

review: Sertraline

Sertraline

From Both Our Hands

July 5th, 2019

Hypnotic Dirge Records

1.Hounds of Avarice 05:54

2.The Knowledge of Trees 06:02

3.Entwined 07:17

total time 19:13

In only 19 minutes, three songs, the band manages to impress. The first song “The Hounds of Avarice” is loaded with melancholy and it feels more like an instrumental, due to the sparse vocals; at the end it switches to a blasting black metal segment. The speed part seems out of place because it broke the melancholy for no good reason, other than to glimpse fast black metal. This first track seems like it is two songs held together by a single time frame. Either way, it’s good, sounds good. The second song “The Knowledge of Trees” goes to the black metal, the atmospheric, melancholic type that jumps into blasting speed, all the while carrying the melancholic sound. The recording seems like the band wanted the sound of real drums (this review cannot confirm this information) and real instruments in general. It’s a solid, do-it-yourself black metal recording. “Entwined” closes it out. The last song summarizes the band’s take on black metal that bends melodies towards melancholy. This song is an illustration of the consistent use of melancholy with the black metal, and as a consequence the music is DIY gritty, but still shows a bit of elegance in the execution. It is not polished and fancy, as you would achieve with a bigger budget, but it is surprisingly smooth on the ears, including the vocals, which do not seem overly harsh on the ears despite being extreme. This is all probably due to the band’s experience in their craft, given that, according to Metal Archives, some of the members of this band used to be in Where She Wept (now defunct), which began in 1999 and did four albums and four EPs, amongst other works. This is Sertraline’s second EP, and the question to which all of this is leading is: Is there a full-length album in the works? Anyway, this EP by the New York State band is an attractive listen for fans of DIY U.S. atmospheric black metal.

hypnoticdirgerecords.bandcamp.com/album/from-both-our-hands-2

review: Helvetets Port

Helvetets Port

From Life to Death

High Roller Records

23.08.2019

Helvetets Port, says Metal Archives, was silent for ten years, more or less. Their previous album is from 2009, and they did an EP in 2010.

Helvetets Port is a Swedish band that looks to the past in order to find its purpose towards the future. This year is 2019, but by the sounds of it they have no interest in trying to play contemporary styles of European and American metal that may be popular, and instead they have in mind the year 1979, and also 1980, 1982, but probably no later than 1982, and to think of 1983 might be too late for their tastes. Their heavy metal is that 1979 spirit between the new sound that had been forming in the previous few years that was heavy, but the bands did not make the songs sound the same. It was hard rock and progressive rock, without feeling like there was a huge contradiction in playing both.

The band has mostly songs in English, but they do some in Swedish. Their sound is traditional heavy metal the oldie goldie style with a progressive side. Fans will notice the love of the 1979-1982 New Wave of British Heavy Metal and of the classics in general. Given the style of the band, there is probably one old 1970s/1980s band that Helvetets Port tips its hat to and they don’t have to look far because the band is right there in their home country: Heavy Load, the Swedish band whose debut is from 1978 (recorded in 1977).

This album is 57 minutes, and it takes time to understand what the band is doing. At first you might think it is just traditional heavy metal, but as you listen more closely the peculiarities of the band will be clearer. The old proggy segments, the vibe of old heavy metal, these things will come to the forefront. Then it’s when their mixing of 1970s and early 1980s will show more as their style. The album is long because they were baking it for close to ten years. We’ll be hearing from Helvetets Port in another decade.

facebook.com/HelvetetsPort/

review: Scimitar

Scimitar

Shadows of Man

23 August 2019

The British Columbia-based Canadian band Scimitar appeared on the horizon more than years ago, but it wasn’t made official until 2009 when they greeted the scene with a debut self-titled EP. From that beginning they had a pretty good idea of what they wanted. The EP showed the basic idea of Scimitar and that concept in 2019 remains intact. Their folk-themed extreme metal nowadays is serious business, even though the album is independent and they’re doing their thing all by themselves, apparently. The previous album is the debut from 2010. In between the two albums they did two singles (2013, 2014) and those songs appear on the album, but aside from those singles, it looks like it has been ten years since the debut album.

The album lasts 53 minutes according to iTunes (49, according to Metal Archives), but at this rate it’s not like there is going to be a new album any time soon. In 2019 Scimitar presents a wide variety of moods. It is one overall sound, but the songs are varied in tempo. The sound is gruff/aggressive low growling, and some higher growling in some parts. The centerpiece of the guitar riffs is a melodic, marching type of crunch that is fixated on extending the sense of catchy instrumental themes; they believe in juicing the melodies out of a moment before moving on to the next one. The rhythm section makes all of the above possible. These songs depend on a rhythm section that supports as a foundation for laying down the melodies and the chugging. The melodies are reminiscent of Medieval/Renaissance-like vibes, like melodies from old songs that have come down to the present from centuries ago, possibly from old folk songs popular in Western Europe in Medieval/Enlightenment times. The result is a melodic extreme metal with strong folk directions, and in some songs you will hear some melodies that come from a clean-sounding, plucked-string instrument that enhances the sense of folk music.

Scimitar is not so much a genre as it is the idea of folk themes and melodies joined to extreme metal. “The Shadows of Man II: Cataclysm” leans in a big way towards black metal, with some proggy/folky clean melodies in the middle before coming back to the extreme metal. “To Cultivate with Spears” is an uptempo melodic death metal song of an African legend/myth/history of war and violence, as the other songs are. “Knights Collapse” seems like the story of an English invading army in crisis in France. The vocals on this latter song are gruff and the song itself is melodic extreme metal, of course, but if you listen closely you might notice that the vocals patterns seem different. Do you know why? Because the vocalist is doing something like extreme metal folk growl-rapping.

Fans of melodic death metal with lots melodies, and in this case the melodies are of the folky/proggy variety, would find this Canadian band a worthwhile investigation. It has taken them years to get their affairs in order and this is the result. The album does take time to absorb. The first few listens might only give the feeling that you are scratching the surface. Later on, the tracks will begin to sound like real songs with hooks. The lack of immediate impact may discourage some listeners, but more discerning and patient audiences will get a lot more out of this album. Enjoy the album, friend, and Scimitar will be coming around to rock again in another ten years.

scimitar.bandcamp.com/album/shadows-of-man

review: Pathology

Pathology

Reborn to Kill

Pavement Entertainment

9 August 2019

Pathology has established their tradition that they do not allow many years to go without releasing an album. From 2006 to 2019 they have ten albums; they released an album a year in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Unfortunately, that great run has come to an end, and now they are releasing an album every two years, which is very sad because once you get used to an album every year, then nothing can ever take away the heartache of having to wait two years to smile again when you see another album of undead-zombie-themed artwork and the brutally illegible Pathology logo splattered on the album cover. The most depressing time was from 2014 to 2017 when it took three years between albums. The world might as well have ended, and no amount of Kleenex could comfort the zombie tears rolling down our skinless faces. It’s a cruel new world, but at least Pathology does not take as long as Boston, Def Leppard, Bolt Thrower (RIP) and Guns ‘n Roses to make a new album.

But enough of the sob stories. Pathology is back. Let’s dig up this grave and open this casket and discover what pleasurably aromatic treasures lie within. The album cover is zombies. Check. The drumming is blasting. Check. The riffs are sick. Check. The vocals are guttural and indecipherable. Check. Alright, then, that’s it. Done. That’s the tweet.

Right? Not quite! The band in the past has put a lot of zombies on the album covers. Pathology must continue to have brutal album covers because it’s how they roll, and they don’t want to give people a heart attack by changing up the tradition and have the fans going, “Oh, no! This is it! This is the big one, I’m having a heart attack, I’m coming to join you, Elizabeth!”

Yet, the polished production shows a band working in a good bit of variety into the 33 minutes of blasting guttural death metal. “The Druid’s Gavel” is not a blasting song, and the track is Pathology tipping the hat to the more traditional, classic-style death metal with some catchy riffs. “Stone Axe Dismemberment” (best song title of 2019?!) has blasting, midtempo and breakdown parts all in one. This is Pathology being Pathology, and it’s another catchy song, but the 16-second guitar solo is very melodic. “Empathy Ends” is a midtempo instrumental that is melodic. You’d be surprised at the small, interesting details that the band is doing to keep the brutality going after all these albums.

Unfortunately, the band seems to be consciously restraining the songs, as if they are afraid of having real guitar solos, as opposed to the licks and quick boosts of guitar that they currently use. The same is true for the vocals, which fit the description of brutal and guttural death metal, but the brutality therein lacks things like: serious commitment to the pig squeals, gut-wrenching screams, more guttural craziness, more wildness, and other vocals elements. Pathology continues to deliver some of the catchiest and most effective brutal death metal albums out there. This one is no different, but the album sounds like the band is standing, looking at an open door right in front of them, a door that allows the band to walk into some new, wilder territory of brutality, but they have not made up their minds if they will walk through the door. They are looking at each other, saying, “Should we do this? Are people going to accept Pathology if we add some new things?”

Another success for the band, but will they let the whole cat out of the bag? We see that the cat is showing its face, we hear its meow, we see the cat, we see the cat, bring out the whole animal! We are not afraid of the seeing the whole cat, and neither should Pathology, who are adding melody to slam-brutal-guttural death metal in fresh ways already. Could this be a sign of something bigger, braver coming down the pipeline from Pathology?!

facebook.com/PathologyMusic/

review: Book of Wyrms

Book of Wyrms

Remythologizer

Twin Earth Records/Stoner Witch Records

23 August 2019

Don’t throw away your happy pills, friend. You will still be needing them. The North Carolina, USA band takes the 1970s hard-blues sound of heavy rock, and maintains the pace steady as downer rock doom with a clear psychedelic or space rock overall spirit. The result is slow, doom-and-gloom songs as the fundamental style. Despite the above scary description, the music is not extreme metal, and way more accessible than the super slow doom, sludge and drone of today’s doom at the most extreme end of the spectrum. Book of Wyrms has everything that old hippies would have liked, a fan of the Zep/Sabbath/Purple/Heep/Doors/IronButterflyJeffersonAirplane psychedelic music would be at home with this bluesy slow heavy spacey rock

The band prefers to milk the melodies for all that they are worth. In practical terms, it means, relax and don’t be in a hurry to hear fast or uptempo music because this is all about keeping things simple and intelligible as a comfortable pace of slow motion to let the listener hear the grooves and winding ways of the guitar slowly churning out vibrations. Logically, in this style the band allows the rhythm section to be heard loud and clear. The trippy synthesizer work is important on this recording in order to have the space rock feeling. The singing voice comes across as too thin. Perhaps it is too low in the mix. Maybe the problem lies elsewhere. Overall, however, die-hard fans of oldie heavy rock and space rock are the intended audience. Think 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, and maybe 1971, but probably no later than 1972, for the groovy times of peace, love and protest.

facebook.com/Bookofwyrms

review: Astralium

Astralium

Land of Eternal Dreams

Rockshots Records (EU), Spiritual Beast (JP)

23 August 2019

Throw away your happy pills, friend. You won’t need them anymore. The Italians are coming! The Italians are coming to bring joy to the peoples of this world and the next one. Just look to your imagination to find the meaning of the album artwork and title. Astralium was formed with the purpose of making joy, cheer and happiness into songs. Astralium unfolds in soprano/high melodic singing and some contrasting vocals of the male voice sailing on the angelic glory of sugar, spice and everything nice of symphonic power metal filled to the brim with outrageously naughty and shameless ear-friendly songs to tantalize the vulnerable souls with the irritatingly irresistible heavenly pop metal. Astralium—with the confidence of Babe Ruth calling the shot pointing to the centerfield bleachers—wants desperately to tear down the walls of any listener near this music, and the band is so confident that they will need exactly one listen to convince.

The death.

The angels.

The heavens.

Ways of infinity.

The fate of the soul.

The meaning of dreams.

The purpose of life on Earth.

Questions of immortality.

Searching harmony.

Manifest doubt.

Desperation.

Find hope.

Eternal.

That’s the subject matter of the album. Their minds are set on another world, and they seek the sensation of grandiosity in elegant and luxurious songs. This debut album has been years in the making and it shows a huge effort to impress fans of genre. The sound is very polished and the band seeks the lush and fancy production that sounds like a metal band backed up by a symphony. It’s that type of contemporary production for fans that enjoy the super sweet keyboard-laden, pop-oriented heavy rock.

Here in the United States this style seems to have less success than in Europe. American reviewers often mention this type of music with sarcasm or irony or some pejorative attitude. However, it looks like Nightwish and other bands like that do tour the U.S. and seem to come back for more touring. Of course, this album involves a lot of studio magic and they probably don’t have the money (yet?!) to pay philharmonic orchestras. However, for fans of big symphonic power metal with soprano singing, songs with the big bounce of the super symphonic poppy sound, this album might go down a storm. The fans will be doing air keyboards and conducting imaginary orchestras.

facebook.com/astraliumband

review: Dialith

Dialith

Extinction Six

August 16th, 2019

The prospect of listening to an hour-long album may not be too enticing, particularly if the band in question is an unknown factor. Many independent bands these days are making these long albums with the attitude, “Well, we may never make another album again so we might as well make this one a big bang celebration of one and done as we say goodbye to this cruel, cruel world!!!” Sometimes it seems that bands get together and work for years to make an album only to disappear exactly when they are just getting warmed up. Yet, this Connecticut, USA symphonic power metal band claims that they are not a one-and-done deal and that they have more songs in the works.

Whatever doubts and misgivings there are, fans of the subgenre should be convinced by the third listen, if not the second. The effectiveness of the music is such that the music makes sense very quickly. What a relief! Nobody wants to hear an hour of music that drags. Luckily, despite the differing moods and songs, they keep the pedal to the metal and consistently keep up the tempo. Do they want to rock? Yes! The next question is the matter of skill. The rhythm section makes sure to keep the energy up as a style for the band. The keyboards are present and audible in a measured way. The singing, as is often the case in this particular subgenre, is melodic and high in the general style of soprano. There is no screaming nor growling, nor female/male combination; only high melodic singing. The songs feature the big riffs and hooks that fans of this style want. The songs are made with the intention to make you feel good about being a fan of heavy metal music. You like power metal and the band means business in giving it to you. If you want to feel happy, this is a vehicle, a good vehicle, for doing that: power chords, solos, keyboards, fun tempos, and angelic singing. You probably won’t dare to sing along, but feel free to try it anyway when there is no one else around to hear you attempt to sing like a soprano. Do it. Because, why not?! We won’t tell anyone. It will be our secret.

The album is too long for one sitting. While some people do enjoy long albums, the band seems to hope that appreciative fans will take the time to tackle the album over several days. It all depends on how a person listens to music. On the other hand, it could have been a much better business decision to release the music as two albums. It’s easier for consumption, better for the discography, for keeping the band’s name active, for marketing, for the wallet of the band, and for expectations (now every album they make must be super long or risk accusations of “running out of juice” or “not as good as the debut” or some other ridiculous thing). To conclude, the album is a very impressive American new entry into the subgenre. It will be interesting for fans of guitar-driven heavy/power metal with soprano singing and keyboards, but with the keyboards as secondary to the guitar, and not vice versa.

dialith.bandcamp.com

review: Sacred Reich

Sacred Reich

Awakening

Metal Blade Records

23 August 2019

In 1963 the American rock band The Beach Boys achieve big time success in the United States with the marvelous single “Surfin’ USA,” which is also the name of the album. On the album the band showcases the beautiful vocal melodies that is their trademark. The lyrics are a celebration of good times; the myth of California as the land of fantasy, prosperity and happiness; and it is a wholesome hymn to the United States as the land of milk, honey and money.

In 1988 the second-wave American thrash band Sacred Reich respond to such a myth with “Surf Nicaragua,” a song about U.S. government intervention and fueling of the civil war aimed at overturning the revolution in the Central American nation. Instead of happiness, beaches, money and good times, the Arizona thrashers show murder, poverty, violence and war. To hammer their message, they also cover Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” a classic song against war. Sacred Reich and Black Sabbath reject the war of their times and use their music to speak on what they see around them. Since the thrash band’s debut album in 1987 they had managed to do two seemingly contradictory objectives: play really fast, really loud and abrasive extreme music of the time; and establish themselves as metal music social commentary. They were going to give thrash to the people, but they were also going to give thrash fans some food for thought.

The band’s 1991 album The American Way continued the lyrical approach of commentary on politics, government, corporations, and other institutions of power. As was happening in mainstream metal at that time, the heavier, simplistic groove-oriented chugging was taking over, and the The American Way was no different. The music was heavy, but it was no longer pure thrash. In truth, the album was a change, but it was not a weak nor light album. The album still had some thrash, but it had more groove. The difference was noticeable, but the fact remains that the album was successful for them, and many fans liked the new element of heaviness and simplicity added to the thrash foundation.

In 1993 and in 1996 they had two more albums, but something was wrong. The groove metal formula had gotten stale. All that one has to do is listen to the 1993 song “Just Like That,” (even the song title lacks creativity) to hear a band that has hit a wall. Instead of music that was fast and lean with sharp thrash, they sounded like frustrated, angry liberals whining about anonymous enemies, as if they were fighting with such unimportant people like reviewers, interviewers, critics, and other cynics. They were tired and sounded tired and the music sounded tiring. Those albums have some songs that sound good, that show that the band wanted to make good songs, and other tracks that sound like a band bored with its job. Those albums are inconsistent, with material that seems like it is filler. Despite activities in the intervening years, there was no new studio album and they seemed like a nostalgia act whenever they played live.

Now in 2019 they have finally made the album that their fans should want. In the eight songs and 31 minutes, the band has finally figured out how to thrash again for real. It seems like the fog has finally lifted. They sound lean again. It also looks like the band’s older members are in better health, like they feel better, and the music seems to reflect that better state of mind.

The new album finds them once and for all putting the pieces together. They can and do thrash. They also take the best elements of the 1990s, and revamp their groove metal. It is not a pure thrash album. This is not 1986 anymore for them, and they are not going to sound like the young thrash maniacs of the Draining You of Life demo from that year. However, they have learned to balance thrash and groove a lot better. In addition, in their old age they are throwing little bits of 1970s classic/heavy rock energy in some of the soloing, some of the grooves, in the guitar, in the drumming and that can be heard in some of the music.

The album is short, as all Sacred Reich albums have always been. Leave the people wanting more. Exactly. sacredreichofficial.bandcamp.com

review: Dead Kosmonaut

Dead Kosmonaut

Rekviem

High Roller Records

20.09.2019

Well, this is weird. Really, just about the weirdest piece of information that you might hear all year. Unless you are already in the know, like probably some fans and musicians in Sweden are, because they have known the information for a while now (or some German fans who have seen the band live already), these Swedes might surprise quite a few people. The music is traditional progressive, with both a 1970s vibe of musical freedom and the classics of 1980s heavy metal, all kind of coexisting for the sound that is Dead Kosmonaut. You might feel like some segments remind you of Pink Floyd, while others might make you think of Iron Maiden/Thin Lizzy.

That’s not the weird part.

The weird part is the singer. Notice that it says “singer,” not the more general “vocalist.” It was necessary to double and triple check this information about the identity of the singer. The promo information received by this publication says that the singer is none other than the infamous leather-spikes-bulletbelted maniac primarily known for being the outlandish screamer for the old-school extreme metal band Nifelheim (He has done other vocal work, all which has been screaming and raging like a lunatic of black/death/thrash metal). Yet only now we are finding out that he can sing and sing well? What kind of madness is this?! The music gives the guitar lots of room to breathe and work the melodies. Fans of bluesy, progressive melodic guitar should take special notice of this band. It is perhaps the biggest and most important selling point, given the quality of the guitar playing. Of course, then there’s the singing! Good stuff.

Anyway, this 24-minute EP will be of interest to those fans that want classic rock of the 1970s and classic metal of the 1980s in their contemporary prog. The EP is three songs of 4-5 minutes and a fourth one that lasts 10 minutes. All the songs have a feel of freedom, but the last song takes the grandiose freedom of the heavy metal progressive blues to another level. An enticing EP for the fans of oldie but goodie contemporary prog.

facebook.com/Dead-Kosmonaut-179075279238707